The teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 6,819,919, U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,750, U.S. Pat. No. 7,813,741, U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,748, U.S. Pat. No. 6,539,232, U.S. Pat. No. 6,542,749, U.S. Pat. No. 8,150,439 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,768 are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Also the teachings of the papers “Accurate Extraction of Face-to-Face Proximity Using Smartphones and Bluetooth” (Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/ICCCN.2011.6006081) and “GroupUs: Smartphone Proximity Data and Human Interaction Type Mining” (Digital Object Identifier: 10.1109/ISWC. 2011.28) are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
The teachings of patent application “Method and Apparatus for Location based Networking Sessions” with priority date Oct. 2, 2012 of the same inventor are incorporated herein by reference.
Furthermore, where a definition or use of a term in a document, which is incorporated by reference, is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.
A geofence is a virtual perimeter for a real-world geographic area. A geofence can be generated as in a radius around a point location such as a bar or a restaurant. A geofence can be a predefined set of boundaries connecting points expressed by latitude and longitude. Geofencing has been made possible especially by the introduction of GPS (Global Positioning System) technology and the miniaturization of electronic components that have made the locationing functionality a standard feature in Mobile Phones and portable electronics in general (User Equipment). Geofencing can be implemented via many other localization techniques, both indoor and outdoor.
In this application the term ‘geofencing’ or “geofence” is not limited to virtual fences provided by storing one or more geographical locations and parameters that can be retrieved and then compared to actual locations obtained by using GPS positioning but shall include all the possible techniques that may serve the purpose of defining a geographical area by using digital or electronic means such as for example the radio horizon that defines the range of a radio carrier such as, e.g., 3G, 4G, WLAN, Bluetooth and RF-ID around a fixed or mobile point.
Geofencing technology can trigger or inhibit functionalities of location aware apparatuses. For example, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,813,741 titled “System and Method for Initiating Responses to Location-Based Events” a system may provide a response to one or more location-based services applications to provide location-based services, such as email, instant messaging, paging and the like.
In other enactments, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,150,439 titled “Facilitating user interactions based on proximity” a system is described for providing location-based information and functionalities in various ways. The technique includes enabling multiple people in a common geographic area to interact in various ways, such as via user equipment. In addition, the patent discloses enabling the creation and maintenance of location-based virtual groups of users (also referred to as “clouds”), such as for users of mobile and/or fixed-location devices. Such clouds may enable various types of interactions between group members.
A social network is a social structure made up of a set of actors (such as individuals or organizations) and the ties between these actors. One of means by which these actors can communicate nowadays is the Internet and there are many websites providing a common platform where these actors can interact. A social network provides a way of analyzing the structure of social entities. The study of these structures uses social network analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities, and examine dynamics.
LinkedIn, for example, is a social networking website for people in professional occupations. It is mainly used for professional networking. One purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact information of people with whom they have some level of association, called connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection as long as they possess some data about the targeted connection such as an email address. The contact by a first professional with a second professional within the site often requires either an existing relationship, the sharing of some common traits such as membership to a professional group, or the intervention of another contact related to both professionals. If the invitee rejects the invite, that may count against the inviter. This “gated-access approach” intends to build trust among the service's users.
A list of connections can be used in a number of ways: A contact network is built up consisting of their direct connections, the connections of each of their connections (termed second-degree connections) and the connections of second-degree connections (termed third-degree connections). This can be used to gain an introduction to someone a person wishes to know through a shared contact. Users can also design their own profile to display work and community experiences. LinkedIn can then be used to find jobs, people and business opportunities recommended by someone in one's contact network. Employers can list jobs and search for potential candidates. Job seekers can review the profile of hiring managers and discover which of their existing contacts can introduce them. Users can post their own photos to support identification and credibility. Users can recommend other users.
A feature of LinkedIn is its groups, enabling anyone to start a group based on an association, interest or industry topic. For example, there are thousands of academic and corporate groups that permit alumni and employees to stay in touch. LinkedIn members request an invitation to the group and can receive postings by other members via e-mail.
LinkedIn is just one of the many different social networks. Many other networks exist targeting different facets of human desire for interaction. To date, some of the most popular are: Badoo, Facebook, Foursquare, Friendster, Google+, Myspace, Habbo, Flixter, Flickr, Douban, Myheritage, Meetup and Classmates.com. Some of these social networks have “group forming” capability among its members.
Groups can also be interacting in real life, not only virtually, behind a keyboard. Meetup.com, for example, is an online social networking portal that facilitates offline group meetings in various localities around the world. It allows members to find and join groups unified by a common interest, such as political views, books, games, movies, fitness, pets, careers or hobbies. Users enter a ZIP code or a city name and the topic they want to meet about; the website helps them arrange a place and time to meet. Topic listings are also accessible to users who only enter a position.
The present invention combines, adapts and adds to some of the above-mentioned concepts, technologies and observations by way of a synergetic and novel approach.